Tag Archives: sailing

Home Alone

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I am in danger of falling off the wagon. I’ll try not to just sit and stare at my screen. I’ll just pretend I’m writing morning pages and just keep tapping, hoping to find words and ideas, hoping to make sense and a post for the 12th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m home alone. The guy has gone for a week of sailing with his brother and other like minded guys. He started this sailing venture with another fellow. Then it morphed into a few more boats each time. It’s yearly thing now with ‘regulars’ for over 10 years. They call it the Elbow Run, sailing on Lake Diefenbaker. The village of Elbow is right on the lake. He gets t-shirts made every year with a different design and the logo The Elbow Run.

I do enjoy a short sailing trip but not exactly keen on sailing and not bathing for a week. So I look forward to my yearly week alone. Before, I had Sheba for company but I’ve been winging it by myself for 5 years now. I always thought I could be more free and get more done while he was away. It just dawned on me last year that it wasn’t so. It was an illusion. It was more work since I have to do it all by myself – the gardens, cooking, cleaning and everything else.

I still value this week alone. It’s good to know I can stand on my own two feet. It builds confidence and a backbone. I’m not truly all by myself. There’s time spent with friends and my father. We do our daily coffee. Today I helped him figure out how to work his toaster oven. Tomorrow he’s going to use it to bake some basa fillet for supper. It’s really a pleasure to watch him bounce back from grieving mom and blossom these last while. I feel blest to have this time with him.

I’m about done here. I am a wee bit tired and getting towards bedtime. It’s a day well spent. I baked 6 loaves of bread this morning. It was cool and there was no more bread left in the freezer.

SUNDAY SAILING

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IMG_6798The weather had forecast some rain in the afternoon yesterday.  We headed out to Elbow early in the morning anyways.  We had waited so long for the first sail of the year.  It was time to get out of Dodge, away from the traffic,  noise and speed of life.

You can only speed on a sailboat if there is a wind, but that is only after you have the boat assembled and on the water.  That is no small feat – for the novice and on the first sail of the year.

IMG_6807Two hours later, we were finally in the water.  By then the clouds had rolled in.  What to do?  We headed off in the direction of least clouds.  It was rather a pleasant sail.   The rain was gentle and we had our rain gear on.  We dove into our sandwiches for we were starving by then.  Sheba looked on eagerly mouth watering, from her place on the trampoline.  She got a bite of my sandwich when I wasn’t looking.  I appeased her with her favourite rawhide chew.  Satisfied, she settled down and looked off to sea towards the horizon.

The rain continued.  We saw the clouds lifting in the distance and hoped that clear skies would reach us soon.  In the meantime I was enjoying the ambiance of skimming across the waters.  I did wished mightily that we had hot chocolate though.  It would have been perfect then.

IMG_6806We got a little wet and after awhile a little cold.  The captain decided we better head back for shore to warm up.  The winds had died and we motored the last stretch -to the dock where the mosquitoes greeted us with glee.

IMG_6813And wouldn’t you know it, the sun came out in blazing in all its glory by the time we had a beer.  I sat in the truck, out of mosquito range and finished reading Anne Lamott’s Rosie.  By then I was feeling no pain, drowsy with sun and beer.  I cared not what the men and Sheba did. I was mellow.

IMG_6800It takes an hour to pack up the boat to head home.  Nothing is instant about sailing.  What went up, must come down.  Knots tied has to be untied.  It was a process, much like living.  A click and an ENTER work only in cyberspace but not on earth.   I know that but sometimes I forget as I tap and tap, click and press ENTER.  Sailing brings me back to earth.

NO SAIL TODAY

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The sweat is running down my face.  I’m sitting on deck stairs, catching the gentle afternoon breeze.  I can hear Sheba panting on the deck.  I lean against the side railing, closing my eyes.  I can hear the whoosh of the traffic, the drone of  a lawn mower.

The bread is done.  The loaves are cooling on the rack.  Sheba’s life jacket and her mats are washed in soap and water, rinsed and drying in the sun.  Amazing how much her things can stink up the car.  Amazing what a little soap and water can do.

We went out to Elbow Sunday for our first sail of the year.  The mast went up and we got the boat in the water.  But that was as far as we got.  For one reason or another, the sail wouldn’t go up.  So we gave up on thoughts of sailing that day.  We ate our lunch on the beach.  Sheba sat in the wet sand, dressed in her life jacket and nowhere to sail.

After lunch we got help and took the mast down, loaded the boat and got it out of the water.  After an hour or so of packing and loading up, we headed home.  And after another hour or so we got home.  You might say we had a day of nothing or just frustrations.  But I just said:  That’s life.

I’m sitting in the kitchen now, tap, tapping away, keeping my heebe jeebies at bay.  Sweat is dripping down the sides of my face.  I wonder if other people get them.  I suppose everyone has their own demons or else they are lying.

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The AC is now on.  Its coolness is soothing.  The sweat recedes along with the ghosts.  I sigh one big sigh, feeling stronger, dreaming sweet dreams of sailing.